They heard the car pull up outside and just minutes later the sound of footsteps coming up the steps as Tempest and the boys made their way upstairs.
The door opened and Carson led the way in, opening the door for Tempest since she was carrying the pizzas.
“Hi, Uncle Ronan,” Carson said, in his ever even tone.
“Carson! How are you? I haven’t seen you in forever!”
“Cahson, I can paint your nails,” Penny said.
Carson looked at his little sister like she’d grown two heads. “No.”
“Unca Bant did!”
“Then you don’t need to do mine,” Carson said, waiting for Tempest and Eli to come in so he could close the door.
“I thought that was your truck,” Tempest said as she walked in and went straight to the kitchen table to put down the four pizzas she carried. She came back into the living room and hugged Ronan, before she glanced over at Brandt.
She burst out laughing. “Oh, you look good.”
“See!” Penny said to Carson.
“No,” Carson repeated.
“But whhhhhyyyyyy?” she whined.
“Because then I have to get it all off. And the stuff that removes it makes my fingers burn,” Carson explained.
“Ooo, you might be allergic to it, baby. You better be careful with that,” Tempest said.
“I’m trying. But she doesn’t understand,” Carson said.
“Mom! You forgot the cheesy bread sticks!” Eli said, finally coming though the door carrying them, too.
“I did! Thank you for remembering, sweetie,” she said.
“I got the spaghetti sauce, too,” Eli said, carefully balancing two small containers that obviously held something red.
Carson waited until they were both in the house, then closed the door. ‘It’s marinara sauce.”
“It’s red, and it’s just like the spaghetti sauce.”
“It’s still called marinara,” Carson insisted.
“Eli, put the bread sticks over on the table, along with the marinara spaghetti sauce,” Tempest said, when he tried to divert toward his bedroom with them.
“But, Mom, we have two bags! And two sauces!”
“And there are twice as many of us this evening. Put them on the table.”
“They're my favorite,” Eli said, pouting a little.
“Yes, I know. And you’ll have some. But you’re going to eat pizza, too.”
“Fine,” Eli said. After putting the bread sticks and sauce on the table, he walked over and flopped onto the sofa. He took a good look at his father, then at Ronan, with his brows raised in a perfect recreation of the expression Brandt wore whenever he was thinking ‘you see this shit?’.
Ronan started laughing.
Brandt started laughing.
